"We all may be emotionally damaged, but temporarily being someone you are not gives you an excuse to not be yourself and all the baggage that comes with it." -Anonymous That's the appeal of being a cosplayer. Showing the world who the model wants to be, making a fantasy real in a safe way, and showing the world how well they can pull off being that character. It's as legitimate a form of escapism as any other, but for years it was used as an example of one of the freakier things a fan could do to express their affection for the intellectual property of their choice. Now, it's pretty close to mainstream. Some models make costumes that look like they were borrowed from a blockbuster movie shoot. Others make costumes that are intended to be endearing or amusing for how threadbare they are. Both are legitimate ways to have fun and share the enjoyment with others. Still, the preference here at WhatCulture.com is to applaud the people that made extra effort and brought the extra skill that allows their work to stand as professional-level costume design. In assembling this list, we had this general basis for which models we chose: How good the costumes are, how good the model was at portraying the character, and how great their career highlights have been. Not all of these people are professional models but pretty much all of them could be.